disclaimer: All characters are the property of Marvel, except Jenny who is MINE.
WARNING: This one is a cliff-hanger. Sorry, had to be done.
Human in a Mutant World
by Dizi
Chapter 5
The phone calls started a week after Jenny's visit to the mansion.
At first she'd answer the phone and there would be silence, as though no one was there. They called over and over until she unplugged the phone. She wasn't really worried just irritated and plugged it back in just in case Hank or work called. This lasted for two nights.
The third night she started hearing breathing on the line and she unplugged the phone after only two calls. She'd became nervous by then, but plugged it in again for the same reasons as before.
The fourth night the caller whispered her name and she put the phone in the trash, not caring if she could be contacted or not.
She hadn't been sleeping well and it showed. Jenny knew Harry was concerned, worrier that he'd turned out to be. She'd decided to talk to him about the problem. Then she got a call while at work.
"Jenny! Phone!" Harry waved to the other end of the bar. She thought it would be Hank about the current book and ran for it.
She answered cheerfully. "This is Jenny."
"Hello, Jenny." She went cold at his voice. "Did you think I wouldn't find you? You hid very well, must be all your mutie friends."
"What do you want?" she whispered. She had never wanted to see him or hear his voice ever again. She'd never thought he'd look for her, but hadn't thought he'd find her after all this time either. He hadn't seemed to look for her before, and she probably wouldn't have been hard to find in the beginning.
"Why, I want you to suffer for what you did to me." he said pleasantly.
Oh God. "I'd say I already have, except I didn't do anything to you. It was the other way around." She was proud her voice was calm, even if the tone was bitter.
"We both know that isn't true, now don't we?" Again his tone was pleasant.
She hung-up, not being able to take anymore and went over to Harry still at the other end of the bar. "If he calls again, I don't want to speak to him."
He nodded. "I'll see to it." and he watched her go outside a frown on his face.
She went outside to smoke a cigarette. She was up to almost a pack a day since the breather started calling. Now, she thought she might need to invest in a carton, deciding it was better than drinking - which would have been her other choice.
Harry blocked five calls over the next two days and didn't tell her about them. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one to answer the phone and three others made it to her. For the third one, he was in the storeroom and came out to see her slam down the phone. He was firm when he told the other employees that all calls to Jenny were to go through him first, never directly to her. It had gotten so everytime the phone rang she flinched and she was smoking more than ever.
Harry wasn't the only one concerned. Logan and Remy came in shortly after the first call and they couldn't help but notice the change from a smiling cheerful young woman to a nervous chain-smoker over such a short time. They started coming in early in the afternoon just after she arrived and staying until closing to keep an eye on her. She even accepted their offers of a ride home, showing them how worried she was.
Jenny had continued sharing her books with Hank and he was now on thefourth one. She explained away her lack of a phone and promised to call him instead. He was left unaware of the problem because Jenny made Logan and Remy promise not to tell him, saying he was busy and didn't need to worry about her. They did tell Bishop, and he checked out her apartment frequently while she was gone. Between the four of them she was watched almost constantly.
Though it may have been a mistake not to tell more people, later no one was quite sure what else would have been a better course of action.
Seeing Jenny jump at the sound of the phone ringing, Remy sighed and lit a cigarette for her, knowing her hands would be shaking too much to do it herself. His eyes narrowed, maybe it was time to make her talk about it, though that hadn't worked in the past five days.
"Expecting a call, chere?"
She just shook her head.
Logan snorted and rolled his eyes. Signaling Remy about where he was going, he went outside to contact Bishop and see if he'd found anything on his latest check on Jenny's apartment.
He answered on the first ring. "Bishop."
"Anything?"
"I think someone was in there."
"Did you get a look at him?" Logan's claws slid out at the thought of getting his hands on someone who would torment a girl as sweet as Jenny.
"No. I stayed outside and can't be sure. If he was there the situation might be about to escalate. How's she doing?"
"Got big circles 'round her eyes. Still smokin' up a cloud and jumpin' every time the phone rings." Logan was about ready to start flinching himself with the way she looked when the phone rang. The guy wasn't giving up.
"Her light stays on late at night, but I don't know if she's sleeping badly with it on or not sleeping at all."
"Don't really make a difference. I'm thinkin' of tryin' to talk her inta letting either you or me sleep on 'er couch. She's so nervous she might go fer it."
"If nothing else, talk her into letting you in and you can see if you can get the guy's scent." Bishop paused. "Remy still trying to get her to talk?"
"Yep."
"Any success?"
"Nope."
"Harry hire enough people to cover for her if it gets worse and we have to get her out?"
"Yeah, and he told me she's even got vacation time comin'. Not doin' much anyway, but she seems to feel safe here. I'm thinkin' we wait long as we hafta." Before we take matters into our own hands, went unspoken. The three had discussed it and decided Charles wouln't get upset if they tucked her away at the mansion for her own protection. However Jenny might, but maybe not if she knew the jerk had been in her apartment.
"Call later or if anything changes."
"Back at ya." He put the phone away. Might be time for him to make a try at getting Jenny to talk since Remy wasn't getting anywhere.
"Hey! You one of the guy's watching Jenny?" This was obviously one of the new girls as the others ran away from him for some reason.
"Yeah." he growled at her.
"Got some mail here for her." She handed him a some of envelopes.
Looking through the stack, he asked. "She usually get mail here?"
"How would I know?" She stomped off. He watched her go thinking she wouldn't last long with an attitude like that. Sooner or later somebody would stomp on her - usually it would be him. Hopefully she'd last long enough.
Reaching the table, he took a drink of his beer, grimacing because it was now room temperature, before handing the mail to Jenny. "You get mail here a lot?"
"Some. Bills still go to the apartment, but I get most other stuff here since I'm here more anyway." Especially lately. She didn't want to stay in her apartment since the phone calls started. She spent her time at Harry's whether she was working or not.
"You sick, chere?" Remy asked when he saw two from doctor's offices. They hadn't been told about Jenny's scars. Hank and Ororo had kept them private, respecting her wishes.
"Just checking into having something taken care of." She'd decided if she was to save to have the scars removed she needed to know how much she needed and what it would entail so had requested pamphlets and information be sent by various agencies.
Wanting a distraction, she opened one - without realizing it had her apartment's address on the envelope. Upon seeing the contents, she dropped the envelope in shock, scatteringphotographs across the table.
They were pictures of a much younger Jenny. Some showed several men performing various sexual acts with her and others just had her posed obscenely, all obviously against her will. She'd seen them before, she'd lived it, and the pictures were a reminder of something she had worked hard to put it in her past. Crying out softly, Jenny quickly attempted to gather them up, not wanting them to see the pictures but knowing it was too late.
Remy pushed her shaking hands aside and gathered them for her, trying not to look, and gently placed them in her shaking hands. Watching the tears roll down her face, he put his arm around her and pulled Jenny to her feet. "Come, chere, we goin' for a walk."
Taking thephotos from her numb fingers before she dropped them again, he deftly placed one he had snagged on top on the stack, put them back in the envelope, and placed it on the table. Then he lead her outside to cry in privacy and smoke another cigarette.
Logan waited to be sure they were completely outside before reaching for the envelope. He took a deep breath hesitating before opening it. He didn't want to look. From what he had briefly seen they were pretty bad, but one of those men could be the one after Jenny and they needed to know what he looked like. Of course, if he ever saw any of them, they wouldn't walk away. And he was sure that was only if Remy or Bishop didn't see them first. Hank would feel the same if Jenny would let them tell him. Considering the pictures he could understood her reasons better now.
He saw immediately why Remy had selected that one specificimage as important. The picture wasn't sexual but was worse in so many ways. In it Jenny's arms were stretched out tight exposing her back which was freshly mutilated from across her shoulders to mid-back. She was covered in and surrounded by blood, various instruments laying beside her also covered with it. One cut across her left shoulder looked like it went to the bone, the rest were carvings - some of those looked like they could be initials - and random burns.
He looked at her in the image for a moment before finally pushing the feelings it inspired aside and studying the picture more objectively for information on the location and the men involved. Then put thepicture aside and quickly went through the others looking at them carefully and trying to avoid thinking about what had been done to Jenny in each. He couldn't let himself think about it if was to help her now. Perhaps later he would take time to make them pay for what they did to a young defenseless child, but not now. When he finished he went to call Bishop and gave him as detailed as possible descriptions of all the men in the pictures.
Remy leaned against the side of the building keeping a close eye on Jenny. She hadn't broken down like she had the night Charlie died which was almost worse somehow. The look in her eyes touched him deeply. They were hurt, trapped, resigned, and more all at onceand he didn't see how they could hold everything she was feeling. Her face was calm but the tears continued to fall. Her left hand was rubbing the top of her left shoulder in an unconscious act he'd seen her perform many times since first meeting her. Remy suddenly realized she was rubbing a scar left over from the scene in the picture he'd found.
Seeing her struggling again to light another cigarette, he took the few steps toward her to help and she flinched away from him. He didn't move, silently continuing to offer his assistance until she sighed inresignationand accepted his help.
"How can you stand to look at me after seeing that?" she whispered, staring into space.
Forcing himself not to put his arms around her and comfort her as he wanted, he said simply, "Remy your friend, chere, nothin' change dat, nothin'."
She continued staring into space, numb inside. They stood together that way until she finished her cigarette. As she put it out, she said quietly "Thank you."
When they went back inside the phone was once again ringing. Before Harry could answer, she snatched it up, saying in a calm empty voice, "This is Jenny."
"Did you get my gift?" she was tired of the pleasant tone. He hadn't always used it before.
"What did you hope to accomplish?"
"Just a reminder of past times, Jenny. Did they upset you? Imagine how upset I was when it was you who sent out copies."
"It wasn't me. I never had copies. You threatened me with them."
"You did, it had to be you. You ruined my life." He wasn't so pleasant anymore and it actually made her feel better.
She had no idea how she kept her voice calm, but was glad of it. "I was a fourteen-year-old girl, what do you think you did to me?"
"I'll see you soon, Jenny. Soon." he promised before disconnecting.
Remy and Logan had tried to teach her pool, but she just couldn't seem to get the hang of it like Jubilee. She was getting better at poker, even though she was pretty sure they both cheated. Jenny just wasn't sure if they were cheating for her or against her, so didn't know if she was getting better or not. So Remy and Logan played pool while Jenny sat at the table nearest to themand played solitaire with Remy's cards. He always seemed to have cards for some reason.
She was tired of sitting around doing nothing since Harry wouldn't let her work. What she really wanted was to go home, but when she was there she was so nervous she couldn't sit still. She felt safer here surrounded by people. But it was getting late and soon the bar would close and she'd have to go home anyway.
She could just leave. The thought kept running through her head. She knew how to lose herself in the masses, but didn't want to do it. She had found a place here. She was happy and had friends again. Jenny just couldn't bring herself to do it.
Looking up from the cards, she caught Logan watching her. She tried to smile at him, to reassure him she was fine. He didn't look like he believed it. She picked up some of the quarters he had left on the table for her and headed for the jukebox, knowing he was still watching.
As always, the first song she picked was one Logan liked. She wasn't sure what she wanted to pick for herself though and became involved deciding on her choices. It was a busy night and she didn't realize when there were so many people surrounding her that none of her watchers could see her.
"Hello, Jenny."
She stiffened and slowly turned around to face him. The room seemed to fade away and he was all she was aware of.
"I've missed you." He stepped closer to her and she couldn't move.
He lifted a hand towards her face and she found the strength to say, just above a whisper, "Don't touch me."
Moving quickly, he put his arms around her and said in her ear, "You shouldn't have done it, Jenny, or I would have left you alone."
As he let go, she felt a sudden pain in her right side. Inhaling sharply, she put a hand over where it hurt. She stumbled towards the bar and Harry. Her eyes were bright as she reached him. She lifted her hand covered in blood towards him and whimpered "Harry..."
Every thing went dim and far away, and she was only vaguely aware of what was happening around her.
Harry catching her as she fell over.
Logan and Remy pushing people out the way to reach her side.
Someone saying, "Call Hank. We'll take her to the mansion."
Someone picking her up.
Then there was only darkness.
Coming out of Jenny's apartment, Bishop called Logan. "Someone by the name of Phillip Notheis just killed himself in Jenny's livingroom, after tearing apart every single thing in her apartment."
Logan took a moment to reply. "Probably the same bastard who stabbed Jenny in the middle of a crowd at Harry's. We just got her to the mansion. Hank's working on her now."
"I'll be right there."
to be continued.
note:
B Oots- you are SO close! Can tell you've read all the Jenny stories.
GothikStrawberry- Who doesn't like moonpies? I never got the twinkie thing, but I prefer cupcakes. I figured Hank would feel more secure with someone who wasn't too into creme-filling. : )
Beany- Yeah, couldn't get why they thought somone mutant and dead could turn into someone alive and human. Go figure.
Elizabeth Robbins- Jubes will show, can't leave out my favorite character.
SabeyBaby- 5 was quick, but unfortunately 6 will be a few days with Easter and regular maintenance of life getting in the way.
Sorry about the cliff-hanger guys! Had to be done if only for emphasis. Hank's angsting blaming himself for Jenny's attack, just to show I've started writting 6. More to come on Jenny's parents and her 'painful past'! Coming soon. Promise.
Love the reviews! I start and end my day reading them and feel good inside. Probably why I've been writing so quickly!
Thanks for reading and the support,
Dizi
